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Former Australia captain Michael Clarke has placed Steven Smith right up with Australian greats and rooted for him to score a double hundred in front of his home crowd in Sydney against India in the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on Friday.
Smith, a modern-day great who lost his form during his transition from middle to top order, has finally found his groove. Smith's movement, rhythm and technique are singing in harmony, especially after the third Test match. He brought up his century in style in Brisbane and topped it up with another ton in Melbourne in front of a sold-out crowd at the MCG in the Boxing Day Test. Smith now stands 38 runs away from completing 10,000 Test runs and becoming just the fourth player to achieve the feat. If he goes on to accumulate 38 runs in Sydney, he will join the elite ranks of Ricky Ponting, Allan Border and Steve Waugh. "He might have a few more than 10,000 runs, don't worry about that. The way he's batting. Oh look, look, Smithy's been an absolute genius. You know he's in the conversation apart from Sir Donald Bradman, he's in the conversation for that number two spot as Australia's all-time great," Clarke said on the ESPN Around The Wicket podcast. "You know him. I was lucky enough to play alongside Ricky Ponting. A lot of people who saw Greg Chapel reckon he was unbelievable as well. We've been very lucky in Australia to have some wonderful players, but Smith, he's certainly up there," he added. Smith has already two centuries to his name in the ongoing BGT. With Sydney eagerly waiting to welcome its local hero for the final Test, Clarke reckons the seasoned batter could go on to hit a double ton. "The thing he does well is he's got his own style. He's got his own technique. He fidgets more than anybody else I've ever seen. Hits so many balls in the nets, but he knows how to make runs. And when he gets a roll on, he's hard to stop," he said. "So you know, two centuries in the series already, SCG, home ground, family friends wouldn't surprise me if he went a third. His record against India is phenomenal. He loves winning as well, so don't write him off for this test match. Maybe you could see a double," he added. (ANI)
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